It’s expected Airbus’ total will be slightly higher, if it counts a large China order agreed to in November. Boeing executives consider that order less than firm and inclusion in the 2007 tally dubious.

Bob Toomey, a financial analyst with investment brokerage E.K. Riley, described the three consecutive years of Boeing orders topping the 1,000 mark as “amazing and unprecedented.”

“Obviously, they are developing the right products for the market,” said Toomey.

Boeing’s sales tally, up more than one-third from 2006, is impressive in quality as well as quantity.

While the top-selling jet remained the Renton-built 737, a healthy 40 percent of sales came from the larger, more lucrative wide-body jets built in Everett.

The total list-price value of Boeing’s 2007 net orders is approximately $171 billion, the company said. However, commercial jets are sold at hefty discounts.

Based on market price estimates by aircraft-valuation firm Avitas, the approximate actual value to Boeing of the total net orders after discounts is about $106 billion.

Two years ago, Boeing cried foul privately when Airbus booked as firm a big China order after final agreement with the Chinese government — but before the planes had been assigned to the specific Chinese airlines that would pay for and fly them.

Carson views the 2007 China order similarly and is impatient with what he sees as Airbus’ looser definition of a firm order.

“Airbus did not get an order for 160 planes. They signed a letter of intent,” said Carson, “This will be an order some day, but it’s not an order we would have counted this year.”

Clearly content with Boeing’s own record sales but unsure how Leahy will book his orders, Carson downplayed the horse-race element of their rivalry.

“I’m not racing with anyone,” Carson said.

The new year begins amid fears of a general recession and an almost certain global order downturn in the cyclical aviation business.

But while 2008 is expected to be very much slower in sales — analysts estimate Boeing orders could plummet as low as 600 jets in the year ahead — the huge order backlog from three straight years of record sales represents at least five solid years of production at Boeing’s two assembly plants.

Delivery figures for 2007, also released Thursday, show production of current jets humming at both factories, even as Boeing prepares to produce the new Dreamliner.

From Everett in 2007, Boeing delivered 83 of its large 777s compared with 65 the previous year — equaling the 1999 delivery rate, the highest production level ever for that jet.

From Renton, it delivered 330 of the single-aisle 737s, compared with to 302 the previous year.

For 2008, as production continues to ramp up, Boeing is forecasting between 480 and 490 commercial-jet deliveries.